Dogs in the Moonlight

by Jay Lake

Dogs in the Moonlight_ showcases yet another of the powerful voices of one of speculative fiction's hottest new writers. Less than three years after his first publication, Jay Lake has already been nominated for the John W. Campbell Award, the Hugo Award and the World Fantasy Award. His stories, appearing in dozens of markets worldwide, have been translated into five languages. This collection of mixed reprints and new work focuses on Lake's Texas roots. He covers old myths and new from the Lone Star state, with tales of ghosts, angels, gods and aliens. Visit the past, present and future, and learn the truth about flying saucers from the writer that Locus magazine has called "one of SF's fastest rising talents."

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon, where he worked on multiple writing and editing projects. His 2007 book Mainspring received a starred review in Booklist. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Endeavour Award, and was a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was kinda disappointed in this collection. There were some good ideas. The title story expecially had some thought provoking ideas. But the "villains" were one-dimensional in the author's attempts to be gory. And in subsequent stories there was little development of idea.

But still, there's something there. An atmosphere, maybe? One that makes you scratch your head, and that's always a good thing.

[Chelsea Jennings · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love Jay Lake for his skills with atmosphere, and for the range of human experience he writes about. Some of the stories left me feeling warm, with thoughts of mankind's finer aspects in mind. Others were truly disturbing, and/or weird, and/or sad. Still others somehow combined both extremes into one. And a couple of the stories were just fun. Either way, that's why we read literature, right? To experience and reflect upon life, human nature, and all aspects and extremes of experience. My favorite work by Jay Lake (so far) is the short story "In The Forests of The Night" and these stories did not affect me as much as that one, but it's hard to beat perfection. "In The Forests Of The Night" was written after this collection, so perhaps it is the product of the writer's having honed his skills.

[Jennifer]

I was introduced to Jay Lake at a conference. He is an outgoing, large man with a moustache and a ponytail and seems to love the Hawaiian print, so it came as no surprize to me that his stories are as loud and colorful as his shirts.

He's a Texan (which should make my dad proud) and Dogs is really a dedication to all of the eccentrics and wild men who live there. Most of the people he depicts are poor, hard drinking, gun toting farmers who live in trailers along with their loud, mumu-wearing wives. My current fave is the book's name sake: a story about voodoo and ghosts haunting the prairie. My second favorite is a story called the Oxygen Man about a future where the oceans have died because of lack of oxygen (over carbonization) and poor people die slow axfixiated deaths because they can't afford the price of oxygen. Not certain if this is an environmentalist statement or a statement on the callous policies of the Conservative Right (we never link the two in the Pacific Northwest).

Anyhow, enjoying it enormously even if some of the stories are a little on the cryptic side. It's lots of fun and worth a gander if you want some light reading.

[Djrmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost stopped reading this short story collection after the first two works. They were incredibly strong with atmosphere (especially if you like stories set in the rural areas of Texas), and the characters were as quirky and truly southern as any I've ever read, but those first stories weren't short stories, imo, they were well crafted ideas for stories. But then I hit the first longer story, Oxygen Man, about an environmentally damaged world where people have to pay to breath, and I didn't stop reading until I'd finished the book. All of the stories deal with some form of supernatural or religious being, sometimes friendly, sometimes not, all very original and entertaining.

[Kelly Flanagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

YAY!! another book of Lake! or should I say Lakes. This is one 'Great Lake' I will share with the States, as long as they don't pollute him! For there isn't a category you can lump Lake into, except that he is an author, and even then I must argue with that, he is an artist, not only an author.
You won't be disappointing in this book, unless you were hoping for something trite. In that case I am glad to see you at a loss.

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read a review that described this collection as humorous, weird, uncomfortable, haunting, frightening and I felt like that was a lot to ask of such a small collection of work. I couldn't have been more wrong. I loved this short, to the point, well-crafted collection of tales.

[Janet]

Short stories. Fantasy. Wonderful!

[Rick Muir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started off a little slow, then got better & better.